Chelsea players must adapt to absence of VAR in League Cup: Mauricio Pochettino

LONDON – English Premier League managers might regularly rail against the video assistant referee (VAR), but Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino said ahead of his side’s League Cup semi-final, first-leg clash against Middlesbrough that his players have to “be careful” to adjust to the absence of the system.

The game on Jan 9 at the Riverside Stadium will be the Blues’ first this season without VAR, as second-tier Boro do not have the requisite technology installed.

So the English Football League (EFL) decided to do away with VAR for all four League Cup semi-final ties – Liverpool play Fulham in the other last-four match.

An EFL spokesman explained: “It was decided it was fairer to not use it... If it couldn’t be used in one of the games, it won’t be used in any of the four semi-final legs.

“However, VAR will be used for the final regardless of who is playing in it as the technology is already installed at Wembley.”

In December, Pochettino said that VAR “affects the way we educate our players”, claiming it makes it difficult for managers to drill a sense of aggressiveness into their teams.

Now it seems the Argentinian will have to drill his players on how to play without VAR.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Pochettino said on Jan 8: “It is a different game as it is 180 minutes. Of course, it’s about to have a different approach... and it will be tough and no VAR. It’s another thing we need to be careful because our normal attitude is to play with VAR.”

It’s not just playing without VAR that the Chelsea boss is wary about.

He called Boro “a good team with good ideas” after watching Premier League high-fliers Aston Villa need a late goal to

knock them out of the FA Cup at the weekend.

Said Pochettino: “Watching the game against Aston Villa, they lose, but could win the game. A good team with good ideas. It’s true they changed the system, 4-2-3-1, now they use a different one. Good players, good coach and it will be tough.”

That “good coach” is none other than former Manchester United and England midfielder Michael Carrick. The 42-year-old had a stint on United’s coaching staff after his retirement and even

took interim charge

after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer left the club.

His first Premier League match at the helm was a draw with Chelsea. He won the other two games during his short tenure.

He joined Boro in October 2022 with the club one point above the Championship relegation zone before guiding them to a top-four finish. This season, he steered the club to the League Cup last four for the first time since 2004.

Despite any hopes of any similar run in the FA Cup dashed by Villa, Carrick saw positives in the defeat.

He said after the match: “The boys are disappointed, which is good... It’s not an acceptance of ‘we’ve got beat’, it shows to me, more importantly, how much they felt they were right in the game. That’ll help us.

“We’ve got a lot of young boys in there that are learning, developing and the positive experiences we’ll take from it are no end for Tuesday hopefully, and to the end of the season.”

Looking ahead to Chelsea, he added: “I won’t have to lift them... There won’t be any issues with recovery or motivation, my job’s already done for that one, they’ve done it themselves by getting into a semi-final.

“It’s a different game completely in terms of tactically and the dangers Chelsea have got, we’ll obviously have to adapt and look forward to that. They’re dangerous, at any point they can change a game, we know that.”

Boro will be missing Australian duo Samuel Silvera and Riley McGree as well as Senegalese goalkeeper Seny Dieng, all of whom are on international duty. Similarly, Chelsea will be missing Dieng’s compatriot Nicolas Jackson.

Pochettino added that there were no new injury issues, but Christopher Nkunku would miss out with a hip injury.